Dr. Michiel Vermeulen, of UMC Utrecht, has received the highly prestigious European Research Council (ERC) starting grant. ERC starting grants are meant to support scientists who are in the initial stage of their careers but who have already proven themselves to be world-class researchers, with funding of 1.5 million Euro over 5 years.

Dr. Vermeulen has performed groundbreaking research in pushing the technical limits of quantitative mass spectrometry-based interactomics. Using this, he and his lab have addressed the fundamental question of how epigenetic modfications can lead to gene expression regulation. For example, they analyzed how chromatin modifications are “read” by interactor proteins, such as transcription factors that regulate transcription.

Within the 4DCellFate consortium, Dr. Vermeulen’s group is using this cutting-edge technology to help elucidate the interactors of the PRC and NuRD complexes. They can then compare how these interactors change depending on the post-translational modifications of the complexes, which change during embryonic stem cell differentiation, to obtain a dynamic view of the chain of command for gene regulation.

4DCellFate is a Collaborative project within the 'Health Theme' of the European Commission's Seventh Framework Program, with the grant agreement no. 277899, that began 1.12.2011 and runs until 30.11.2016.